For example, since an anti-cancer drug used for treating cancer is used by being prepared in an infusion solution, there is a risk that a healthcare professional who handles the anti-cancer drug would be exposed thereto in administering the anti-cancer drug and discarding thereafter a container which contained the anti-cancer drug. Many anti-cancer drugs have cytotoxicity since these drugs inhibit cell division not only of cancer cells but of normal cells, and are known to have mutagenicity, teratogenicity, and carcinogenicity. Particularly, regarding carcinogenicity, it has been confirmed that anti-cancer drugs such as cyclophosphamide, azathioprine, and the like have a carcinogenic action with respect to the human body.
The risk to the healthcare professional who handles the anti-cancer drug is determined not only by the strength of the toxicity of the drug, but by the body intake amount and the intake period due to the aspiration of the aerosolized drug through the respiratory tract during handling, the attachment of droplets of a drug solution to the skin, the oral intake or the like. Accordingly, since a healthcare professional who handles the anti-cancer drug for a long time is likely to take in the drug for a long time even if the amount is very small, there is a demand for improving the sealing function realized by a plug of a container such as a vial that contains a drug solution of an anti-cancer drug.
Regarding these problems, a technique is used. In the technique, a preparation operation such as mixing of drug solutions is performed in a cabinet in which a closed operation space can be specified, whereby the drug solution is prevented from diffusing outside the cabinet, and the risk that the healthcare professional may be exposed to the drug is reduced. However, even when the operation is performed in the cabinet, the scattering range of the drug solution is unexpectedly wide and a medium to which the drug solution has been attached may be carried out of the cabinet, thereby contaminating the surrounding environment. Consequently, it has been proved that a healthcare professional cannot avoid exposure to the drug even if a cabinet is used.
Therefore, systems are being developed in which a dedicated device is directly connected to the container that contains the anti-cancer drug. However, many of the systems have so far failed to solve the problem that the amount of the leaked drug solution is large. Some of the systems include a device that has a small amount of the leaked drug solution and is excellent in functionality. However, this device is very expensive and requires a complicated operation, so there is a problem in that the practicality is low. Although a container that has a small amount of the leaked drug solution is also being developed, there is a limitation on the types of containers that can be connected thereto, so there is a problem in that there is a lack of versatility.
As another related art for solving problems of the respective related arts that relate to the cabinet, the dedicated connection device, and the container that has a small amount of leaked drug solution, a plug for a container is disclosed as a stopper for an injection in Patent Literature 1, for example.
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a plug 4 of a container according to another related art. In the related art disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a container 1 includes a container body 2 that contains a drug solution and a plug 4 that seals an opening portion 3 of the container body 2.
The plug 4 includes a flange portion 6 that is placed on a flange 5 at the body side formed in the opening portion 3 of the container body 2, a cylindrical peripheral wall 7 having one end connected to an inner peripheral portion of the flange portion 6 at a right angle, an end wall 8 that is integrally formed in the other end of the peripheral wall 7, and a partition wall 9 that is integrally formed inside a radial direction of the peripheral wall 7 from a middle portion thereof. In the peripheral wall 7, a closed space 10 is formed between the end wall 8 and the partition wall 9.